Quilt Happy, Quilt Often

Good friends and polk-a-dots

As I'm unpacking and finding homes for everything, I realized I forgot to show you my new favorite bag!

Kay, one of the girls at the Rabbit's Lair in Arkansas, shares a polk-a-dot obsession with me. I KNEW I liked her from the minute I met her! She is one of those amazing people who can make anything, and everything she does turns out wonderful. She is the bag-making QUEEN - something I'm very envious of because I can't make bags worth beans. For a good-bye gift, she made me the most amazing bag - I LOVE it!

 

 

Is it not the cutest thing you have ever seen? It was so perfect for our move - it held my laptop and stitching and book just perfectly. Thank you Kay - you're the best! I'll use it often and think of you every time.

xoxo

Alive and Well and Dead

We made it to Denver, safe and sound, and our moving truck came a few days ago. Woohoo! I was a little amazed (and panicked) as the boxes just kept coming in and coming in. We couldn't possibly have that much stuff! But we did, and we are slowly but surely making our way thru the boxes and putting stuff away. By the end of the days we are exhausted and I feel totally dead.

We were here a few days before the moving truck got here, so we had some good time to explore, take care of the nasty moving details like licenses, insurance, banking, etc. We also discovered some hiking trails, the dog park, shopping (I heart Safeway!), and Hannah and I found the local movie theater and caught "The Proposal", which was pretty darn cute. So, we've had a good time, and are looking forward to settling in and making our house a home!

Here is a picture of the four of us when we came to Denver a few weeks ago to find a house:

 

Yep, I think we're gonna like it here.

xoxo, Paula

Four Seasons Stitchery

Before I pack up my office for the next week, I thought it was high time to get started on the "Four Seasons Stitchery Quilt!"

  

Starting with the summer blocks of course, I'll post a new block every month. Just follow the link to view and print off the instructions.

First you might want to take a look at the general directions:

Download Seasons General Instructions

And here's the link to the Watermelon Block:

Download Seasons Watermelon Block

Eventually I'll get these downloaded on my sidebar. And please, if you decide to stitch along, please send me pictures and I'll post them right here! I do hope you have fun with these!

Happy Stitching! xoxo, Paula

Spiders, Fires, and two give-aways!

Last night about 11pm we were getting ready for bed. I was taking my dogs outside for their last visit, and as I was talking to Sami (yes, I talk to my dogs) I reached down to pick up a leaf off the carpet just inside the door. When my hand was about a foot away from the leaf, I looked down and saw that it was not a leaf. Oh no. It was the biggest spider I HAVE EVER SEEN. I'm not kidding, it looked almost as big as a turantula.

I could hardly catch my breath as I attempted to yell to my husband - "Big...." "Spider!..." "Big Big!" "SPIDER!" "BIG SPIDER! BIG SPIDER!"

He comes running in the room and we promptly started running around - "shoe!" "Do you have a shoe?" "No!" "Where's a shoe?" "Shoe! Go get a shoe!" "Where's a shoe?" "Why are there no shoes?!?" 

About that time, my daughter who had just went upstairs, came running down the stairs "Fire? Big Fire? Where's the BIG FIRE?"

I said "There's no FIRE! It's a BIG SPIDER!" And she's like "a spider? Just a spider? I thought you said FIRE! What's the big deal?"

"Big Deal?" I said!?! "Your mother almost got eaten by a BIG SPIDER!"

My heart is still pounding.

Now, onto happier things...As a BIG THANK YOU! to everyone who has joined the Block Party Club, I wanted to offer a give away! And what better to give away than sheep? Earlier I told you about my Friend-Sheep pattern and wool kit:

     

Well, for everyone who belongs to the Block Party Club, if you order the wool kit, I will throw in the Friend-Sheep pattern for free! So that would be both the pattern and the kit for $44.00. And I will throw in an additional "thank you" suprise as well (and it's pretty darn cute). You can order the kit or the pattern on my website .

And, because of my near death experience (with a HUGE spider) I would like to celebrate life by having another Give-Away! If you've been following this blog and wondering if you should just finally join the Block Party Club already, now's the time! Whoever joins the Block Party Club in the next couple of weeks or so, I will send you a FREE "Friend-Sheep" pattern. If you're not that into Sheep (gasp) you can pick any book or pattern off my website for free! When you sign up, just shoot me an email to tell me what free book or pattern you want! I'd love to have you join! It's lots of fun!

So, have a happy day! Stay away from spiders and fires!

xoxo, Paula

Friend-Sheep!

Hello! Happy Friday!

We've just come back home from being gone all morning for some house showings. I've decided that showing the house to find a buyer is a lot like finding "the one" (as in, the one to spend the rest of your life with.) You primp and get everything all neat and presentable. You polish, and clean, and put your best foot forward to impress. You fix things that need fixing, spend money to look spiffy, make sure everything shines and smells good. Maybe, just maybe, this one will the "the one". Finding "the one" brings great joy! You can get on with your life, make new plans, the future looks bright! It's all quite exhausting, I say. Could somebody just come and buy our house already?!

OK, so, happy happy news! The Friend-Sheep patterns and wool kits are available! woohoo! You can go to my website and both are on the front page all new and spiffy looking! the patterns are $12.00 and the wool kits are $44.00. 

  

 

Yeah, I've spent the last two days cutting surrounded in wool, touching, petting, and cutting. Don't you feel sorry for me? Oh, it's so yummy.

Happy Friday!

A little birdie told me...

First off, thanks for the comments and emails of well wishes on our move to Denver. I really do appreciate it! It's nice to know that when we move and don't know a soul I'll still have some friends to hang out with!

Second of all, I've had a few of you email me to ask for instruction on wool applique for the Friend-Sheep quilt. So, I was thinking about doing a step by step tutorial on how to do wool applique. What do you think? Would it be helpful? I'd be happy to it, but if I do, you have to promise not to look at my fingernails in the pictures because they are about chewed down to the nubbins due to, well, life, right now. So, if you'd like to see a tutorial, let me know. Any excuse to play with wool, ya know.

And third, this little birdie told me it's about time to start my free redwork block of the month!

 

Every month I will post a new block for this fun redwork stitchery. Of course, you don't have to do it all in redwork, you can do it in any colors that you like. It will have 12 blocks - 3 blocks for each season. For each season, one block will finish at 4" x 8", and two blocks will finish at 4" x 4".  After you have stitched all of your blocks, I will give you directions on how I finished the quilt top, but of course you can do it any way you want.

   

I chose to make my blocks with muslin - you'll need about a yard (and I always put another layer of muslin behind my blocks when I stitch to help hide the threads) and a few of the adorable new Bunny Hill fabrics. I picked up a few red and white fat quarters to frame the blocks, and will use the leftovers to piece the border, backing, and binding.

So, as soon as I can figure out how to post a link to a pdf for the first block, we'll be on our way! I'll plan on releasing one new block every month. I do hope that you enjoy it!

Quilt Happy! xoxo

Home Sweet Home

Hello! We made it home safe and sound from our crazy trip to Denver to find a new home. I am happy to say we did find a new beautiful home that we will be very happy in. Great neighborhood, great high school, great neighborhood perks like swimming pools, walking trails, dog parks, and shopping. Our new home is on Riddlewood Road. There has to be inspiration for a quilt somewhere in that street name, don't you think?

When we drove into Denver, we drove right into a huge storm that brought rain, hail, and tornadoes! Yes, 5 tornadoes touched down in the Denver area! We, from the land of tornadoes, drove into an area that we were told hardly ever, almost NEVER gets tornadoes. Go figure.

We took our handy, dandy GPS with us of course, to lead us on our way. My husband, with his warped sense of humor (which is where my children got it, by the way) decided that he wanted to surprise us by not picking our usual nice, calm, lady voice, whom we called Maggie; and instead picked a southern cowboy voice who not only told us where to go but entertained us the whole way there. We named him Buck. Here are a few of the directions Buck gave us:

"You might want to go around that there circley thingy, then get on that there high-speed road."

"Now I don't want to pressure you or nothin' but you might want to stay on the right. I'm just sayin'."

"Now when ya'all get up here you need to stay on the left. Now, don't get all testy on me, just stay on the left!"

(In a sing-song voice) "Left, left, just git on the left. Left, left, left, left, left, left, left."

And our personal favorite: "Now look it that! You done got where yer goin! How 'bout that?!?"

Yes, if you have a GPS, you should give Buck a try. He's pretty funny.

Of course, no trip anywhere is complete without scoping out a quilt shop. I was told by many people that I had to visit the "Great American Quilt Factory", so my family obliged and I'm happy to report that it's a wonderful quilt shop! Friendly people, with lots of fabric and beautiful things to look at.

  

So, onto the drawing for the "Friend-Sheep" pattern! Sorry for the delay in announcing this, we were busy finding a house and dodging tornadoes. And the winner is:

 

Congratulations Asiyah! I'll get this in the mail to you.

Speaking of "Friend-Sheep" I got the wool from my favorite wool friend to make up the kits! It came by Fed Ex this morning and I've been petting it all day.Oh dearie me, it's just yummy! I'll be working on the kits this week, and I'll let you know when the patterns and kits are available on my website.

 

Have a great week! I'm glad to be home, I missed you! xoxo

Friendship and Friend-Sheep

Hello! Happy Friday!

This morning I had the great pleasure of visiting a Quilt Guild in Grove, OK and sharing my story and trunk show with them. What a wonderfully friendly, fun, gracious group of women! I thoroughly enjoyed chatting and having lunch with them. (I didn't take pictures because one of my children - I won't say who, but it rhymes with banana - had my camera.) Thanks, ladies, for making me feel so welcome!! It's amazing that wherever we quilters go, we are always among friends. I am grateful.

I am so, so, SO, excited to introduce to you my newest pattern - "Friend-Sheep"! It's a sheep of the month pattern, made with flannel and wool, and can I just say that I LOVE it! When I decided to make it, I started the drawings on a Thursday, stitched and sewed like a crazy woman, and finished the top on a Sunday. My husband was out of town, my girls were busy, and it's amazing how much you can get done when you can stay in your jammies all day! If you've never tried it, you should!

 

This pattern is at the printer, and will be available on June 15th. And, AND!, I will have wool kits available for this quilt too! My first official kits - I'm so happy! Both will be on my website around the 15th, the pattern is $12.00 and the wool kit is $44.00. I already have a waiting list going, so if you're chomping at the bit, just email me or leave me a comment and I'll email you when they are ready.

So - I think we should have a give-away! Leave me a comment and tell me which sheep is your favorite and you'll go in the drawing for a "Friend-Sheep" pattern! The drawing will go thru next Wednesday.

We're leaving for Denver this weekend - seeing the sights and finding a house. But I'll be checking in!

xoxo Paula

Polk a dot, Polk a dot, Polk a dot dot dot

When one lives in Bentonville, AR, one comes to realize that most shopping is done at Walmart. And it doesn't take one long to realize that one is SICK and TIRED of shopping at Walmart. So, when one is shopping at Walmart, moving as quickly as is humanly possible without hurting anybody, it takes something really BIG to stop one in one's tracks -

  

Oh dearie me. Today, Walmart, you're not so bad.

'Ears Looking at Ewe!

 

...Another peek from my new Block of the Month - "Friend-Sheep". The pattern is at the printer and will be ready next week! I'm also making up wool kits for it - woohoo!

I taught my last class at the Rabbit's Lair in Rogers today. I was so sad! The ladies at that quilt shop have been so good to me, and I'm so thankful for their friendship. I will really, really, really miss them all!

xoxo